Create is in fact a very strong word and implies that you make something from nothing. If you read the bible you will recall the story of creation. In seven days God created the earth, man and all of the wild beasts. Pretty powerful stuff. Most mere humans lack the capability to create something.
Facilitate is different and more of a catalyst in nature. When you facilitate you act as an agent on existing elements helping to bring them together. Communities waiting to happen exist everywhere. These communities can often be made more vibrant and dynamic with a bit of facilitation or the act of bringing elements together.

I tend to the side of FACILITATE.

The first community I worked with was the Northern Ireland Mac User Group. I created the mailing list, web site and the forum which allowed the community to manifest. The community was already in existence throug word of mouth and shared emails.

Some groups don’t tend to naturally congregate and therefore it’s hard to quantify the community as whole - though the internet provides a method of easily managing this side of community engagement.

My day job, as the Facilitator for the Digital Circle really means creating a focus to allow the digital media creation ‘community’ which then permits the “Steering Group” to focus the direction of those members of the community who want to collaborate towards the given goal. Yes, at times it’s a little like herding cats and everyone can joke about managing a committee towards a decision.

If we, as facilitators, focus our energies on creating an ‘oasis’ where communities can engage with each other, and then work through the process removing baggage where necessary, we can better achieve the stated aims of the ‘oasis’ (which, again, may not be core to the community aims).

A year ago Rich Segal wrote an article on how to make a corporate butt pucker.

As we inch closer to opening the CoWorking site in Belfast, I find myself having loftier dreams regarding it. I envisage a place where we can assist startups and if necessary turn a couple of dreamers into new entrepreneurs.

The level of support required for this would, of course, be minimal.

What does ‘Code4Pizza’ get out of it?

Well, the aim is kudos and ten percent. Ten percent? Yes, ten percent of the company created. Which means the directors of code4pizza are motivated to make it a success. It will be the only way that code4pizza can become self-sustainable.

What do students get out of it?

A real placement? How about a placement where they’re not washing the VP’s car (as happened in Nortel). Or making tea for line managers in manufacturing (again, Nortel). They’ll get real experience, real mentoring from real business people who are highly motivated to turn them into a success. And at the end they’ll hold 90% of a company they helped build.

So…

I’ve not yet tested the viability in terms of putting it in practise. I’ve spoken to lecturers and they think it’s a great idea. I’ve spoken to entrepreneurs and they love it too. I’ve even spoken to a few students about it and they’re convinced it would take off. So everyone loves it, now what.

1. CoWorking Belfast
2. Collaborative Contracts
3. Initial Funding
4. Programme Development

Okay….

…why will this make corporate butts pucker?

The idea is that a simple, lean company with three founders and one good mentor can kick butt.

Crazy? I don’t think so.

Placements for media students tend to be easier than for software engineering students. Reason being that in my experience you can set a creative person down in front of a workstation and as long as they have the standard industry tools installed (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc), they can be cracking out content in minutes. Not so much with software engineering - unless you’re doing something pretty standard it’ll likely take a few weeks for a smart guy to learn the language you’re using, get familiar with the frameworks you’re using and become a useful member of the team. Back when I was in Nortel, the saying was that a placement student you had for a year would be useful during the second half of his or her placement and that the first six months were just an attempt to acclimatise them.

This lag is what makes it difficult to place software engineering students.

My idea is to take your software engineers (and maybe some of the iMedia students) and get them to create their own company. They can apply for funding like anyone else, they can work together on projects and they can get a taste of what it’s like to run a business. Add a funder/mentor/visionary who can help them get started and you’ve got a formula for churning out new startups. this is like a self-motivated version of Code4Pizza.

Ironically, the first thing I’d have a group doing would be to create the engine behind the code4pizza site itself.

I’m very encouraged by this concept - and have offered to talk about student entrepreneurship at BelfastMet as well as suggesting they publicise the Digital Circle throughout their courses.

I do like movies. And I like series that are aired on television which I can hoard and watch in multi-hour segments.

It seems odd therefore that we (the royal ‘we’) are coming to Channel 4 and putting our ideas in front of them. It’s certainly my feeling that Channel 4 might not be the best people to ask about what makes a compelling online experience but I am encouraged that they are at least trying. We don’t really see much of this from the Beeb (and bugger all from UTV).

What is the role of a public service broadcaster when there is no audience?

The first is to strike the word “broadcast” from the lexicon.

It becomes a ‘public service’ and the audience becomes participants. You can see what Ewan McIntosh, Digital Commissioner for 4 IP is talking about in the Digital Circle podcast (RSS) when says that proposals in to 4IP which have the word ‘audience’ in them are going to find it hard to be accepted.

But what does 4IP know about these services that we don’t?

I think the answer is not a lot and this is why the fund exists. The obvious ones have started to be discussed on the 38minutes site - greater transparency and participation in politics, the participatory nature of Alternate Reality Games, the possibilities (and possible pitfalls) of crowdsourcing. The trick is to ignore these low hanging fruit. It’s not to re-invent the search engine but to think about what will be the methods of interaction in the future.

Ewan mentions, in the podcast, that he sits in front of the TV with his mobile beside him and his laptop on his lap. Same here. And that he watches telly that he doesn’t want to watch. If that doesn’t sound a death knell for traditional television, then you need your aural receptacles syringed. So, looking at what we have there - a large viewing screen, a powerful computer, a device that is location aware, and the entirety of the internet - what would be your pitch?

Also important to note: Channel 4’s ‘iPlayer’ technology is Windows only. Seeing as the Alpha Geeks use Macs…that’s a bigger issue than you might think.

1. Andy McMillan
2. Dave Rice
3. Davy Mac
4. Simon McCartney
5. Jackie Pollock
6. Steve Wilkin
7. Stuart Gibson
8. Matt Johnston
9. David Braziel

[UPDATED!!!]
Here’s the Belfast Open Coffee Club thread. Join up.

I reckon we can fit 20 people in there which brings the rent down considerably per person - down to £100 per month which is incredibly good. The venue isn’t perfect but nothing other than a custom venue will be and I think it’s important that we put our foot down, stand up and be counted.

At the Digital Island Meetup last Thursday it was argued that the reason broadband in the Republic of Ireland is so poor is that it has yet to be proved by broadband faster than 512 Kbps is needed. The point was made by the panel that unless people get faster connections, that’s impossible to prove - like deciding to build roads after everyone decides they need a car. This is why it’s important to show that it’s time for Belfast to have some sort of Digital Hub - that the people needing it are here waiting.

I have, with the help of BCC, applied for some funding under the Creative Industries Innovation Fund for computer equipment and desking but we don’t have to wait for that in order to get started.

[UPDATE: Andy posted his own blog entry which includes an excellent photo]

Who is interested? Seriously.

Also this week at the Black Box, is the Pre-Symposium Event for ISEA2009.

Title: Design Week Events
Location: Belfast
Link out: Click here
Start Date: 2008-11-03
End Date: 2008-11-08

DIGITAL FUTURES

@ 6 pm, Wednesday 5th November
Speakers:
Jane Fielder, Creative Director for Red Bee Media
Nicolas Roope, Creative Director, Poke
Two of the industry’s leading lights share their experience and thoughts on developments in design for digital and broadcast media.
Admission: £5
Venue: The Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster, York Street, Belfast.
RSVP: To reserve a space, email Rita. To purchase tickets, go here.

PLACE MAKING

@ 6 pm, Thursday 6th November
Speaker:
Peter Higgins, Land Design
Lines, words, pictures and sound. Peter Higgins shares his thoughts on the convergence of architecture and communication media.
Admission: £5
Venue: The Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster, York Street, Belfast.
RSVP: To reserve a space, email Rita. To purchase tickets, go here.

The post is focussing on some of the initiatives which are out there in the province for doing just that. Again, I’d mentioned this before here and here.

I find it both amusing and exciting that there is increased opportunity for people to get their ideas realised. It’s like an XFactor for ideas rather than singers which, on the face of it, might be a better model than a Dragon’s Den (which let’s face it, both are getting very tired). It also smacks of Cambrian House which espoused crowd-sourcing as it’s primary model of innovation and market research. (The problem being that crowds tend to be stupid rather than smart). So while it failed, it wasn’t necessarily all bad.

This all shows that there is a market for helping people with vision get stuff done. And isn’t that what venture capital is meant to be all about. We have a poor VC network in Northern Ireland in terms of both quality and quantity. The very best tend to be entrenched in businesses they understand very well and that, for all the frustration it might cause post-Web 2.0 entrepreneurs is perfectly reasonable as it would be folly to expect an investor to put money into a venture they didn’t understand. That said - unless we start to see VCs with a little experience in the tech world, we’re not going to be able to change things.

On top of the schemes I mention on the DC blog, there’s something else planned for next summer which, at the moment, is still in stealth mode (insofar as not very much has been done for it but there’s energy, ideas and time).